During the winter season, people sometimes feel a static shock just on touching a door knob or an automobile body due to the dried air. Static electricity may also generate due to the friction between lining of a skirt which is a fabric structure comprising chemical fibers (polyester fabric structure) and stockings (nylon fabric structure) at every step of the wearer. This generation of static electricity causes static cling between the skirt and legs, which may make the wearer feel difficulty of walking. Another problem arises that the atmospheric dust that is attracted by the generating static electricity will gradually make the clothes dirty.
In order to eliminate these phenomena, conventionally, antistatic sprays and the like have been commercially available. However, it takes great labor to spray on the entire clothing that one currently wears, and further it is not only costly but also troublesome to repeat spraying whenever one changes into other clothing.
Under such a circumstance, a fabric softener based on a positive-ion surfactant is ordinarily added during washing to prevent static electricity from generating on clothes. Fabric softener aim at preventing static electricity from generating by attracting water in the atmosphere to fibers, thereby increasing the electric conductivity on the surface of the clothes. Therefore, there is still a problem that little effect is obtained in dry environment such as in the winter season where generation of static electricity is significant.
As measures to clothes per se, an attempt is made to constitute a fabric structure by combining extra-fine metal threads obtained by finely extending silver or copper, plated threads obtained by plating silver or copper on the surface of threads, conductive fibers, carbon fibers or the like so as to prevent generation of static electricity.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-140439 (Patent Document 1) proposes cloth for kimono (Japanese traditional dress) intended to make a “Kimono” that can be worn without bothered by static electricity and has excellent appearance and texture, wherein silver plated nylon serving as conductive fibers is continuously interwoven along the length of the edge of the cloth.
In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-34640 (Patent Document 2) proposes a silver fiber-interwoven structure wherein threads of silver fibers are interwoven at an optional proportion into a cloth woven in an optional weave so as to control the charge quantity of static electricity during use.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-49541 (Patent Document 3) proposes a laminate thread capable of maintaining an antistatic function even after repeated washings, which is fabricated by the steps of vapor-depositing antibacterial metal such as silver, copper, zinc and the like on a synthetic resin film by vacuum deposition or ion deposition to form a deposition coating; bonding synthetic resin films having the deposition coating together so that the deposition coatings are inside; and thinly cutting the resultant bonded laminate having a sandwich structure in a vertical direction.
In “Resources of clothes and clothing materials”, Chapter 4 “Imparting of additional value on clothing material”, Item d. “Principal of imparting antistaticity”, pp. 163-164, Dec. 10, 1989, The Japan Society of Home Economics ed., Asakura Shoten, Co., Ltd. (Non-patent Document 1), there can be found descriptions about mixing hydroscopic fibers such as wool, cotton or rayon, or mixing metal fibers such as copper, aluminum or stainless or conductive fibers such as carbon so as to prevent static electricity from generating as much as possible, or to rapidly make the static electricity, if occurs, escape outside.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-140439
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-34640
Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-49541
Non-patent Document 1: “Resources of clothes and clothing materials”, pp. 163-164, Dec. 10, 1989, The Japan Society of Home Economics ed., Asakura Shoten, Co., Ltd.